Detroit Tigers game vs. Cincinnati Reds: Time, TV channel, lineup for series opener

Detroit Tigers (39-48) at Cincinnati Reds (42-45)

When: 7:10 p.m. Friday.

Where: Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

TV: Apple TV+ (No Bally Sports Detroit broadcast).

Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1). (Tigers radio affiliates).

Probable pitchers: Tigers RHP Reese Olson (2-8, 3.32 ERA) vs. Reds RHP Carson Spiers (2-1, 3.13 ERA).

Weather: Partly cloudy and mid 80s.

• Box score

Tigers lineup: TBD.

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Game notes: The Detroit Tigers have not been playing good baseball. Not for a while.

After getting off to a good start in March and April, the Tigers are just 22-35 since May 1, posting an 11-16 record in May, going 10-17 in June and then losing two of three games against the Minnesota Twins to start July.

The frustrating part with this group is that there isn't a red herring you can put your finger on. Sometime it's the offense, which ranks 21st with 4.1 runs per game as of July 4. Then, out of nowhere, the Tigers will score 13 runs, like they did June 15 against the Houston Astros, or nine runs like they did just a few days ago against the Twins.

With Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty and Reese Olson in the rotation, you wouldn't think starting pitching would be to blame, but as good as Olson has been at times, he has just a 2-8 record. He hasn't been able to ham-and-egg with the offense. Kenta Maeda continues to struggle, as he did again Thursday, allowing nine runs in 3⅔ against the Twins. Casey Mize is heading to the injured list (again).

The bullpen was lights out at the start of the season, but has seemingly worn down over the course of the year thus far, and has blown some key opportunities.

The defense feels like a major issues at times, but the Tigers are tied for 17th in team defensive runs saved, which doesn't necessarily point to some major issue.

The moral of the story? It's hard to say what's wrong with this Tigers team, which is now nine games below .500 with a handful of games to go before the All-Star break, despite entering the season with real expectations of improvement.

After the game Friday, the Tigers will play two more in Cincinnati before finally heading back home after a 10-game road trip to start a series Monday against the Cleveland Guardians.

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